Sorgavaasal review: Great performances lift RJ Balaji’s middling prison drama

Sorgavaasal is not your usual prison drama, and it’s a film that wants you to know that it’s different. Bodies don’t randomly drop and gangs don’t mechanically engage in bloodshed just to mark their attendance in the genre. This is a film where the guy with the biggest heart is a gang leader who atones for his sins inside the slammer, and the guy with the most formidable rep is a 60-something prison head cook who keeps his head down. Sorgavaasal, a film full of such small yet memorable character quirks, is about the complicated dimensions of freedom inside the prison. 

At one point in the film, the SP of the Chennai central jail, around which much of the film is centred, tells someone that freedom must always be earned among the inmates. Writer-director Sidharth gives us compelling glimpses of what this freedom means to people inside four walls, and how far they will go to grab it. In Sorgavaasal, freedom means finally stepping out on bail for one, and choosing to stay back and reigning over the prison, even when given a chance to flee, for another. 

Sorgavaasal largely revolves around two men who are forced to outstay their time in jail in 1999 Chennai: Parthiban (RJ Balaji is brilliantly cast as an ordinary man pushed to unspeakable things when faced with trouble) a seemingly innocent dosa hawker who claims to be framed for a murder he didn’t commit, and Siga (Selvaraghavan), a Maradona-looking Maradona fan — this hat tip to the football legend isn’t thrown into the film for no reason — a notorious mob boss who is left to rot in jail by politicians. Stories of these two men collide and come to a head with a prison-break rampage when a newly appointed SP (Sharaf U Dheen) callously tries to play god. 

Possibly inspired by the real-life Madras Central Prison riot that made headlines in 1999, Sorgavaasal begins with an uproar in the prison that kills 45 people and leads to the escape of 60 others. The film switches between the years 2000 and 1999, with officer Ismail (Natty as an officer battling a bitter case of gastritis and deception) in charge of investigating the events that led to this coup. 

The first half of Sorgavaasal really comes into its own with characters that arguably demand their own film. Leading the pack is Kendrick (Samuel Abiola Robinson), a Nigerian man who urges people in the cell to embrace Christianity. In a delightful scene, he manages to baptise Siga, the most powerful person in the prison, who also happens to be his best friend. The absurdity of beating the “satan” out of someone is undercut by brilliant performances that force us to take these characters seriously. We also have Rangu, a trans person who shuts down the inherent saviour complex of a cis-male hero with a simple line: “I can take care of myself. You just be my friend.” 

The film also plays with the idea of morality, giving us ambiguous answers on what is right or wrong. For starters, we get different perspectives on who Parthiban really is. While his fiancé recounts a rose-tinted picture, a local cop informs us of his temper issues that she conveniently misses to mention. 

Writers Tamizh Prabha, Ashwin Ravichandran, and Sidharth immerse us into the film’s world with such writing flourishes that keep us on our toes. But the film ultimately doesn’t give us the time to process any detailing that is intended to richen its writing material. Characters are written with deftness on paper, but the connections they share with people lack finesse. So, any big moment of tragedy or joy plays out with barely any emotion for us to register. Events leading up to the riots are paced and cut expertly by Selva RK with superb tension throughout, but scenes following the riots themselves miss the same impact. In such scenes, it is performances that remind us of what the film could have truly been. 

If there’s anything Sruthi loves more than watching films, it’s writing about it. Sruthi Ganapathy Raman’s words can also be read in Film Companion, Scroll.in, and The Times of India.

Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.